Certified Backyard Wildlife Habitat 2013
Turn your backyard into a wildlife-friendly habitat today! Join us for beginner and advanced CBWH courses, taught by a variety of environmental and conservation experts from across the tri-state.
Click here to download a registration form.
Date: April 6 and August 24, 2013
Time: 9 am – 12 noon with optional Advanced Topics portion from 1 pm – 4 pm
Location: Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve
Cost: $10 for WNS members, $15 for non-members
Attendance: 35 each session
Audience: Adults, general public
Backyard Basics
9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Make the most of your backyard, for you and your wildlife. Enhance its natural features and create a certified backyard wildlife habitat! Whether you are in an urban or rural setting, you can improve the habitat for wildlife and enjoy nature’s visitors. This introductory class will teach the basic elements and techniques for attracting wildlife, what wildlife you can expect to see, and how to get your backyard certified as wildlife habitat through the National Wildlife Federation! $15/person for nonmembers, $10/person for WNS members. Pre-registration required.
Advanced Topics-April 6
1 – 4 p.m.
This afternoon program series will provide backyard wildlife habitat enthusiasts with new tools and techniques for attracting wildlife and further developing their certified backyard wildlife habitats. We suggest the morning program, Backyard Basics, as a prerequisite to any of the advanced sessions, but it is not required. $15/person for nonmembers, $10/person for WNS members. Preregistration required.
1:00 "Bee-Friendly Gardens" Attracting Native Bees;
Debbie Goedde, IN Master Naturalist & SW IN Master Gardener
Debbie has been researching native bee species in our area. She knows which flowers attract the most species, and that some are specialists with very important roles in pollination of not only native flowers, but all-important food crops.
2:00 "Eat Your Yard Out!" Native Plant Edibles;
Aimee Blume, Culinary Artist & Freelance Writer
Aimee is a culinary artist, who happens to be interested in wild foods. She has prepared and served many dished which include common backyard "weeds", as well as flowers and buds of many wild species. Ever eat a cattail? Ever make a salad from yard specimens? Ever taste a flower? Sample some of her concoctions at the seminar!
3:00 "Make A Splash!" Water Features Sampler;
Community Wildlife Habitat Team
The Community Habitat Team will demonstrate various ways to attract wildlife with moving water, including bubbling rocks, small ponds, and more. Learn more about these features and how you can add them to your own backyard.
Call us at (812) 479-0771 and reserve your spot today!
Bird Banding At Wesselman Woods
Assist with an ongoing research and conservation project as we catch, identify, band, and record data on the birds of the Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve. This unique hands-on birding experience offers close up encounters with wild birds and demonstrations on banding techniques and bird identification. Participants can also help release them back to the wild! Bring your camera! Note: for the safety of the birds, this program will be cancelled in adverse weather, such as days that the temperature dips below 32 degrees or during heavy rain. No pre-registration is required. FREE and open to the public.
Bird Banding Schedule
March 9 2-4pm
April 13 2-4pm
May 11 2-4pm
June 22 2-4pm
Bug Fest
Date: May 18
Time: 12-4p.m.
Location: Wesselman Woods Nature Center
Cost: FREE & open to the public
Join WNS for a celebration of the creepy crawlies that are everywhere!
Go FishIN - Crew Captain Workshop
Presented by Clint Kowalik. Go FishIN State Coordinator Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve Tuesday
Go FishIN Crew Captain workshops are for adults (e.g. educators and youth leaders) to learn about fish biology, Indiana's aquatic ecosystems, fish management in Indiana, basic angling skills, and angler ethics. Participants will become Crew Captains and can then take this knowledge and these skills to their classrooms and community. Crew Captains also can receive educational materials and fishing equipment to implement the program.
No fishing experience is needed and no fishing license is required during the workshop. All fishing equipment will be provided. Workshop is free but pre-registration is required.
To register, email NREC at [email protected] or call 317-562-1338.
For questions on the details of the workshop, email Clint Kowalik (Go FishIN Coordinator) at [email protected].
For more information about the program, check out Go FishIN online: http://www.in.gov/dnr/nrec/3053.htm
Nature Explore Workhops
Click here for more information or click the Nature Explore logo for additional details.
Hoosier Riverwatch Workshops offered in Evansville
Clean, abundant water is a valuable resource. Whether as a source for drinking water, water for business and industry or for recreation, it is irreplaceable. Again this year, a number of Hoosiers will become trained to help monitor this precious resource.
Hoosier Riverwatch, a Department of Natural Resources education program, conducts water quality monitoring workshops statewide to train volunteers to monitor local streams and rivers. Wesselman Nature Society will be partnering with Hoosier Riverwatch to host the next training in Evansville, Indiana on Sept. 8, 2012 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CDT. The educational training will be conducted at the Wesselman Woods Nature Center in the morning, and at Howell Wetlands in the afternoon. The training is free to the public. Class size is limited to 20, and a reservation is required to attend. Must register by September 3.
The workshop will provide general education in water-quality issues and hands-on training in monitoring the health of rivers and streams through physical, chemical and biological testing. After the training, volunteers can perform stream testing for a wide variety of possible pollutants. They then submit their data to a statewide volunteer monitoring data base that makes the information available to anyone. To date, nearly 5000 people have participated.
“The training is for anyone interested in learning about water quality and gaining hands-on experience in monitoring rivers and streams,” said Lisa Ritter-McMahan, Hoosier Riverwatch coordinator. “People interested in the environment, especially educators, are invited to attend. The Riverwatch monitoring program fits easily into elementary, middle and high school classes, including biology, chemistry, math, language arts and social studies,” Ritter-McMahan said. The program has been correlated to Indiana state standards for science at both the middle school and high school levels. Teachers can obtain three Certification Renewal Units for attendance.
For reservations, specific location and directions, contact Neal Bogan, Naturalist at Wesselman Nature Society at (812) 479-0771 ext 105 or [email protected].
To learn more about Riverwatch, visit www.riverwatch.in.gov.
Energizing Indiana Home Assessment
Energize Indiana is a cooperative program targeted to reduce energy consumption in Indiana. They are doing home energy audits and providing households with low-flow faucet heads, wrapping electric water heaters with an insulating blanket and providing free CFL light bulbs to participants, along with suggestions to reduce energy consumption. There is no follow up to sell anything. One visit to help you save energy and save money.
Wesselman Nature Society is excited to partner with Energizing Indiana in offering Residential Home Assessments.
For every home assessment done, WNS will receive $25.00.
Home Energy Assessments can help you raise your home’s performance, lower energy consumption, inprove in-home air quality and increase your home’s value.
Program requirements are:
- Homes must be at least 10 years old
- Single family, duplex, triplex, quad or mobile home
- Home must not have had a utility-sponsored assessment completed in the past 3 years
- Electric service must be provided through Vectren, Duke Energy, IMPA, NIPSCO, Indianapolis Power & Light or Indiana Michigan Power.
Please see link (PDF Download) for assessment application and for more information please visit www.energizingindiana.com
and download an informative flyer (PDF Download).
If you would like to participate, e-mail us at [email protected] and provide us with your name, address, telephone number and electrical provider. Energize Indiana will call to schedule the energy survey.
Fly Tying Demo
Interested in Fly Fishing? Ever wondered how those tiny ‘bugs’ at the end of the line are made?
On Saturday, February 2nd join members of the Ohio Valley Fly Rod Club for a FREE Fly Tying demonstration. Members of the Fly Rod Club will be on hand from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at the Nature Center at Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve demonstrating to the public how to tie bass, trout and panfish flies used in fly fishing, and to answer your questions.
The Ohio Valley Fly Rod Club is a group that meets at Wesselmans Woods Nature Preserve twice a month. The first Tuesday of the month is fly tying and the third Tuesday of the month is the monthly business meeting. During the monthly fly tying session, members and guests are furnished materials, hooks and tie a different fly pattern each month. The monthly business meeting is used to conduct business matters of the club and communicate fishing experiences from the past month. Reservations are not required to attend. With time permitting, attendees will be given the opportunity to tie a fly themselves. Later in the spring, Ohio Valley Fly Rod Club will be demonstrating and instructing how to cast a fly rod. Fly rods will be provided by Ohio Valley Fly Rod club.
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